The Finest Blade
by Skij Leonhart
Summary: My first venture into the RWBY fandom! TFB will feature an OC (and her team) along with Ruby, Weiss and the gang. Pairings (or multi-parings?) will come as you read... hehe. Rated M for adult themes to come; perhaps lemons if I get enough requests. UPDATE: A new story will be taking over this one until I find the drive to complete this one; SORRY! -Skij
1. Chapter One: A Frozen Rose

Hey folks!

Here's my latest attempt at starting a fic; hopefully I can finish it (since I have an idea in mind for once).

I personally think Weiss a little less composed and bitchy than she's portrayed (both in the anime and in the fandom) and Ruby a little more mature than she's portrayed (that being said, she's still adorbs Ruby so dw, fluff will still contain the Ruby we know and love). It makes them pair up a little better, I think (not that anything's wrong w/ Oum's portrayals!)

EDIT 3/22/14 Fixed some inconsistencies.

Without further ado,

* * *

_Chapter One: A Frozen Rose  
_

"Ruby, we're going to be late for class. If you don't hurry up I'm coming in there to drag your ass out!" Yang yelled, furiously pounding on the bathroom door. It was unusual of her younger sister to dally in the bathroom for longer than five minutes; usually the blonde bruiser was the one who took longest.

"RUBY ROSE! HURRY UP!" Yang screamed, but before she could begin pounding on the door again, a lithe hand grasped her forearm, prompting her to turn around.

"Yang..."

"What?" The blonde replied, annoyed that her rushing-others was being interrupted.

"Maybe you should give Ruby some time; besides, we don't even have the same classes as Ruby and Weiss for the first half of the day. Remember?"

Yang stared blankly at the black-themed faunus before opening and closing her mouth without words exiting.

"Yep. You didn't." Blake released her arm and spun on her heels, grabbing her backpack off of the kitchen counter before heading out the door.

"Hey, wait up!" Yang pleaded, dashing out of the room without her things and slamming the door behind her.

Weiss shook her head and leaned back on her bed, letting her thoughts roam.

_"A new year, and they still haven't changed. Speaking of change..."_

Weiss imagined the room in her mind's eye as she lay down; per Ruby's request, bunk beds per partnership were still in effect. Weiss had learned from her past year's mistake of living every night in fear of a wooden rectangle crashing down on her head; with some persistence, the white-haired girl had dragged her teammates to one of Vale's furniture shops to buy _real _bunk beds with _actual _supports instead of ropes.

Weiss even allowed herself a chuckle as she opened her eyes, remembering how many times she had looked up in fear, before the bathroom door opened. The youngest member of team RWBY staggered out, a towel wrapped around her body and her red cloak draped across a shoulder with a grim look plastered on her face.

The heiress leapt off the bunk bed (almost hitting her head in the process) and dashed to Ruby's side; her leader _never_ looked so down in the mornings.

"Ruby! What's wro- I mean, are you ok? I mean... Should we stay here for a little? First period's just a recap of last year until second semester, anyway..." Weiss trailed off before clearing her throat awkwardly.

"Little Red", as her sister affectionately called her on occasion, managed a slight smile at Weiss' attempts to make her feel better.

"Weiss... did you just suggest that we should skip class?" Ruby laughed lightly as Weiss could only manage an open-mouthed stare before shaking her head fervently.

"You, you've- you've just rubbed off on me, s'all." The older girl managed to stutter out before sitting back on the lower bunk, slightly in shock.

_Did I really just suggest that? Geez, Ruby must be impacting me more than I realize... and she- uhh, what?_

Weiss' thoughts were interrupted as Ruby joined her in sitting with a slight smirk on her face.

"I was just kidding, Weiss... but thanks for your consideration." The younger girl earnestly spoke as she slid an arm around Weiss' back, leaning her head on her partner's shoulder. Weiss could only mumble a small 'no problem' as a blush spread across her face, completely unbeknownst to the young leader.

_Dammit Weiss, keep yourself together. She can't know; she'll think you're weird, she'll hate you, she'll-_

"Can we actually stay here through first period? I don't real- really wanna move." The hitch in Ruby's voice gave away her mental state, and Weiss had no choice but to give in as she lowered herself into the bed, turning sideways to fit. Quickly following was Ruby, laying her head on the other girl's chest and purring slightly. Weiss' blush deepened further as she reached back for her pillow, sliding it underneath her head before setting an alarm on her scroll.

"Fine. Just this once, Ruby... but I-" Weiss started before noticing the light snoring coming from her chest area. Sighing, the achromatic-haired girl attempted to catch a little sleep before her scroll woke her up in a few minutes... but not before one thought drifted through her consciousness.

_Yea right, Weiss. Like it would only be this once. You'd let her walk all over you... as many times as she asked... And you'd love each and every time.  
_

A smile found its way onto her face before sleep enveloped her in its peaceful grasp.

* * *

Yang huffed as she slipped back into the room, grabbing the bag she had left on the table by the door and turned to leave before seeing something that set her hair on end.

_Is that... the princess... sleeping with... my SISTER?_

Yang started towards them, intent on 'fucking Weiss up' as she deemed it, (the two still didn't get along very well) until the blonde's generally non-existent eye for detail noticed dried tears on her sister's face. This, combined with the smiles on both of their sleeping faces, stopped the freight train that was angry Yang in her tracks.

_Damn. I must've seemed pretty inconsiderate this morning... I hope she gets that settled out._

Now smiling and eyes having returned to their normal violet color, Yang slung the bag on one shoulder and made her way out, gently closing the door behind her.

* * *

Weiss' scroll alarm sounded loudly in the girls' ears, jolting Ruby into semblance teleporting backwards into the middle of the room on a rug Weiss had insisted to help fill the empty space between the dresser and the bunk bed. Landing on the floor with a solid thump, the red-themed girl groaned as she made her way to her feet, wondering where she was. Glancing over at Weiss (and the wet mark on her blouse from a certain someone's wet hair), Ruby put two and two together and groaned again.

_I got caught up in my feelings and I just blatantly rested my head on her chest. She definitely thinks I'm more of a weirdo than she's already deduced... and she probably didn't do anything to not hurt my feelings._

Walking back over to the bunk and seeing Weiss still asleep, mouth slightly ajar, _vulnerable_; it made Ruby's heart flutter and warmth grow in her stomach. Brushing away inappropriate thoughts, the girl leaned over to turn off the scroll's incessant beeping.

_...right?_

Suddenly, Weiss turned over on her side, bumping into Ruby's now-frozen form arched over the still-asleep girl.

_Why can't I move? I need to move... she's gonna wonder what the hell I'm doing leaning over her as she sleeps... Ruby, move!_

Weiss coughed a few times and rolled onto her back again; Ruby craned her neck to see Weiss' eyes flicker open. The younger girl held her breath as the heiress' eyes flickered from drowsiness to clarity, and then from recognition to surprise.

"Ruby! What are you-" Weiss started harshly.

"Ahhh! Sorry, sorry." Both girls' cheeks flushed separate shades of red as Ruby semblance jumped up into her bunk, immediately hiding under the covers.

"Ruby?" Weiss tentatively questioned after calming herself.

_Why was she leaning over me like that? Was she trying to... no, impossible. Probably just getting up, or something... Right._

A head poked out from the bunk above with hazy eyes; like she was about to burst into tears at any moment.

"Sorry, Weiss. I'm just gonna get ready for class now." Weiss nodded and made her way to the bathroom to allow Ruby privacy.

* * *

_Damn it, Ruby, you probably screwed it up further. Now she _definitely_ thinks you're strange and weird and creepy and she... arrrrrgh! _

The tail-end of her thoughts managed to manifest itself out loud as Ruby threw her towel to the floor after jumping out of her bunk. Finding what she wanted to wear in her dresser, (she left the closet in their sub-division to Weiss, and her sister and Blake were connected by a door across from their bunk) Ruby slipped on her uniform quickly and threw her cloak over it, giving herself a once-over in the vanity mirror near the door before walking over to the bathroom.

Knocking twice, Ruby called out, "Time to go, Weiss. What class do we have second period?" Weiss opened the door with a look of slight astonishment before recovering and pulling the schedule out of a pocket in her combat skirt.

"Advanced Weapon Tactics in L224..." Ruby's face lit up as she dashed to her bedside to yank Crescent Rose down from its holster on the end of the top bunk. Turning around, Ruby couldn't help but stare at the other girl observing her in amusement, clearly enjoying how excited Ruby was.

Weiss, on the other hand, snapped out of her adoring gaze and focused to notice her partner staring at her. But not necessarily at her face... Try a little lower. A blush spread on Weiss' face as she entertained various thoughts.

_Why is she looking at me like that? Why is she looking_ there? _Do I look funny? Is something wrong with... you know, I might as well ask her._

"Uhh... Ruby? Why are you staring at me like that?" Weiss muttered, and for a second it didn't look like the young girl had heard her.

_Okay, now I'm starting to wonder if she really does reciprocate my feelings..._

_But honestly it's just impossible... how could _she_ like someone like _me_?_

Ruby finally snapped out of her daze, immediately blushing when she realized that Weiss was expecting an answer of some sort.

"Uhhh, um, well, I, what was the question?" Ruby nervously laughed out, and Weiss shook her head before asking again.

"Is there any specific reason why you were staring at me?" Weiss had managed to utter, this time with more confidence and a tinge of anger, although she regretted her tone as soon as she saw the slight cringe on her partner's face.

"Oh! I, uh, your shirt, my, uh, wet hair... hehe." Ruby pointed to the wet spot on Weiss' shirt and its owner looked down in disapproval.

"Ugh. At this rate we might as well skip the whole day!" Ruby didn't know whether to be excited with the prospect of missing a whole day of school to spend it with Weiss or afraid of the tone Weiss' voice was currently escalating to.

"Wait, c-can we really, just-" Weiss interrupted while walking over to the closet.

"No, you _dolt_, I'm frustrated because I shouldn't have let us sleep in the first place! To think, we're missing class on the first day back." Weiss trailed off, talking to herself now more than Ruby.

What she couldn't see was the single tear going down Ruby's face as she slipped off the wet blouse and pulled an identical one from the closet on.

"W-well... okay then. I'll, uh, see you in class." Ruby whispered before darting out of the room, Crescent Rose clutched tightly to her chest.

Weiss spun around and made her way to the door; the cry of "Ruby, wait!" dying on her lips as she looked left and right down the hall without seeing a soul. Sighing, she trudged back into the room to clasp Myrtenaster to her waist before heading towards the L wing of Beacon, her recent actions weighing heavily on her heart.

_Why can't I just act civilly around her? Why do I always have to snap at her? Why can't I just be like when we were laying on my bed..._

Weiss exhaled in frustration as she rounded the last corner to reach her classroom before an explosion sounded, sending smoke wafting out from what she assumed was her class.

_Ruby could be in trouble!_

* * *

E/N: So, yea. They still retain some familiar characteristics; sorry if the chapter's a little too disjointed/fluffy, but plot comes soon.

Review/follow/fav!

-Skij


	2. Chapter Two: The Estoc and the Rapier

A/N: Rayne's weapon is an estoc- google it for a better image. (wikipedia is where I saw the one for my idea).

Accents will remain from OUR WORLD but those places obviously don't exist in RWBY's world, so deal with it.

Without further ado,

-Skij

* * *

_Chapter Two: The Estoc and the Rapier_

**Weiss' POV**

Weiss broke into a sprint and slid to a stop in front of the door; the sight within brought the heiress' jaw to its breaking point.

_What the f-_

The professor's voice, one Weiss didn't recognize, rang out clear in the auditorium-sized classroom. The professor stood at the center of the room infront of a blackboard and behind a desk; the center of the room was open, and to the left and right of the center walkway were rows of desks barely filled with students, but enough to make a class.

"This duel is over. Miss Li-Zhao, please take your seat. Miss Rose, are you in need of assistance?" Weiss had finally taken a few steps into the room; only in time to see "Miss Li-Zhao" sheath a smoking (literally exuding smoke) long sword (_was that an estoc?_) diagonally across her back with a wide grin across her face. A few steps more revealed Ruby sitting on the floor, legs sprawled outwards in an M and Crescent Rose folded up and resting next to her right foot. Team RWBY's leader's head hung as she sat on the ground, wallowing in disappointment and shock.

"Ruby! Are you okay?" Weiss ran to the aid of her leader, who looked up with unmistakable pain flaring in her eyes. Unshed tears appeared to well before Ruby shook her head rapidly side to side, leaving Weiss confused and unsure.

With a flourish of petals, Ruby was on her feet clipping Crescent Rose to her belt; her previous look having completely disappeared behind the crimson girl's trademark smile. Deep stab wounds in each thigh were clotted by the clothing and indicated that _no,_ she was _not _ok, but the girl didn't seem to mind.

"Yep! I'm fine, Professor." Ruby ignored Weiss' confused looks and calmly walked to her seat, where she quickly proceeded to fall asleep, her head cradled within two pale, bare arms. Weiss could only stare.

_I wish those were my arms holding her... wait, what?_

"Miss Schnee, I presume; you look extremely confused. Is there anything I can help you with?"

Weiss stared at Ruby for another few seconds before snapping her attention to the teacher of her class.

"Yes, Professor..?" Weiss left as an open ended question, wondering if he would divulge his name.

"Just Professor is fine." Weiss' eyebrow twitched; professors were supposed to give their students something to call them by; Weiss had already found two reasons to dislike the class. Seeing Weiss' blank look, the professor continued.

"Since you missed the first few minutes of class, let me fill you in. Every Monday, we'll have a duel between two random members of the class. After, if the participants haven't fought before, we'll discuss their choice of fighting style and weaponry; this class is not solely about the weapons themselves, but how to best use them in any situation."

Weiss nodded nonchalantly externally, but internally she was screaming at herself for missing so much information _and _humiliating herself by requiring the teacher to repeat himself. "Professor" didn't seem to mind, though, as he continued on completely unfazed by the requirement.

"Once everyone has fought at least once, we'll be mixing up the fights and having 3 a week, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. On Fridays until this point, we'll be having simulation team fights with the new fancy machines Headmaster Ozpin kindly provided me over there, through that door." He pointed and everyone's necks audibly craned to see a door labeled SIMULATIONS: AWT.

"You'll have to practice teaming up with people you may not normally be paired up with; it's a life skill you'll be glad I'd taught you by the end of the year." The middle-aged man walked in front of his desk and leaned against it, mug in hand, as he began to speak again.

"Now, Miss Schnee, if you'd like to take your seat, I'm going to go over a few basics that should've been covered in last year's classes."  
Weiss tuned the professor out as she took a seat next to Ruby's sleeping figure and poised her chin upon layered hands.

_I wonder if she still doesn't forgive me from this morning... I want to change, I want to be supportive of her...I don't want to have to act like such a complete and total distant_ bitch_ all the time... ugh. If only..._

"Miss Schnee, if you would, please, graciously give us the answer to my previous question?"

Weiss broke out of her trance with another blank look; she seemed to be inattentive a lot today. The professor sighed while a snicker could be heard from across the room, catching Weiss' attention and prompting the heiress to turn with a scowl painted across her face. The culprit was none other than "Miss Li-Zhao", who was seated next to another woman who's face was drawn into a slight smirk.

_Why is he picking on me so much? Lord help me._

"So that's all it takes to catch your attention then? A rude noise from across the room... Miss Schnee, please pay more attention from now on."  
"And Miss Li-Zhao, before you begin with those _awful_ noises again, please know that I do not tolerate that kind of behavior in my classroom. Save any aggression you may hold towards Miss Schnee," As a scowl now appeared on the face of the source of the snicker, he paused to sip from his mug, (_remarkably Ozpin-esque, Weiss noted_) and added, "for the duels. That's all I have for today, whoever can answer the question I proposed for Miss Schnee at the start of class tomorrow will receive bonus points. You are dismissed."

Most of the class of 8 began to filter out, led by Li-Zhao and her compatriot and followed closely by Lie Ren and Pyrrha Nikos. Another student mimicked Ruby's actions across the room, and before Li-Zhao and her posse reached the door, the lead girl paused, turned and put her hands on her hips. The teenager closest to her quickly covered her ears as the yelling commenced, leaving Ren and Pyrrha to suffer.

"MOOOOOOOOOSE!" The kid sleeping, a scruffy and lean looking boy, jumped up from his desk and landed on the ground gracefully and silently, looking around from side to side rapidly. When his eyes locked on the group by the door, he dashed towards them and leapt over the side of the rows, landing next to them without injury.

"Sorry Rayne." He sheepishly commented before the girl next to Rayne put him in a headlock and started rubbing his head with her knuckles.  
"Monty, what did I tell you about falling asleep in class?" The girl furiously started, but his response was muffled as the group of 5 made their way out of the classroom. The last remaining student was someone she didn't know, and after slowly packing up his things into a backpack, he made his way over to the girls; Weiss brooding and staring into space, Ruby snoring and staring into her eyelids.

"I, uh, hey, well, hi." The large teenager cut an imposing figure; Weiss estimated him to be 6'3" and at least 180 pounds of muscle. His words, however, seemed to come out almost as discombobulated as Ruby's when she was flustered, but his were tinged with a slight Scottish accent.  
"Yes?" He cleared his throat and tried again; this time his voice lowered a good octave.

"I'd like to apologize for me teammates, Rayne and Ella. They... don't take kindly to competition, ya see? I wish I could tell ye more, but I don't think it'd be proper to tell ya what they could just as nicely. Sorry, lassie. Me name's Darry, by the way. I don't think I caught yours?" Darry waited a few seconds awaiting an answer, but all he received in return was Weiss' cold stare.

"Sorry I bothered, then. G'bye, Miss Schnee." He simply stated before touching his index finger to the center of his forehead as a goodbye salute before walking down the stairs and out the door.

Weiss stared towards the now-closed door for a few more seconds before waking Ruby, who, after seeing her, disappeared in a flash of petals.  
Sighing, Weiss made her way down the stairs before grabbing the backpack she'd haphazardly thrown in her rush to attend to her partner.

_This looks like it's going to be a tough year... Oh well. I'll make it through. I always do..._

Her thoughts were interrupted by a cough behind her; her hand was already on the door and she was likely going to be late to class. Weiss begrudgingly turned around with a neutral look upon her face.

"Yes, Professor?"

The man set his mug down on a coaster shaped like a wolf's face before motioning her over to him; while she walked over, he opened his scroll and entered some digits before the door in the corner clicked open.

"Follow me."

"But won't I be late for class?"

"What do you have third?"

Weiss paused to remember the schedule she had checked this morning.

"Um, I have Grimm studies with Professor Port in room 1-" 'Professor' cut her off mid-sentence.

"I happen to know Port's out for the day on a task Ozpin required of him, so his classes are cancelled today and tomorrow. What about fourth?"

_Fourth? How long is this going to take?_

"Free."

"Excellent. Now, come with me."

Weiss frowned at the sudden inflection of emotion in his speech; before, the only thing she'd heard in class was a monotone occasionally broken by exasperation.

"Oh, and Weiss?" Now she was really confused; he was being so casual all of a sudden and it freaked her out.

"Try not to zone out again; it just won't do." Weiss blinked and found herself in a darkening room; she turned around to see the only source of light fading with the closing of the door behind them. The resonant click of the door shutting sent a shiver down Weiss' spine, but nothing would compare to the words that came out of her teacher's mouth next.

"Are you ready to _play_, Miss Schnee?"

* * *

E/N: Aaaand all of a sudden he's a rapist. No, there will _not_ be rape in this story. He's just an eccentric dude when he's not forced to teach classes that- whooooops. Almost gave it all away.

Pace is pretty slow so far; at least the OC's have been introduced, though? Yay? Be happy with me? Pace'll pick up in the next two chapters, I promise. Setting up is required at this point.

Review/follow/fav!

-Skij


	3. Chapter Three: Blood Runs Red

A/N: Surprise, if you thought this was supposed to be a typical RWBY-centric fic, you're wrong. For now it'll look like it, but the OC's will quickly become the stars of the show (along with Weiss? I'm not sure why I like her and her poor plight but I do)

Heads up, it's gonna revolve around Rayne and her team, RDEM; Ruby will show up with their team occasionally, but not as often as you may like. Sorry!

(P.S. 3 updates in 3 days will likely **never** happen again. I hope this garners some followers though :D)

Without further ado,

* * *

_Chapter Three: Blood Runs Red_

**Ruby's POV**

_I'm sick and tired of Weiss' bullshit. She keeps acting like she's nice and then she turns around and goes back to her "Ice Princess" ways... that name suits her perfectly. I thought she'd changed... for good! She let me sleep with her, we _skipped first period together_! God. Maybe I'm reading too deep into things; she probably just thought I was tired or something and didn't wanna deal with me in first. Ugh!_

Ruby's frustration mounted in a sudden manifestation of her aura, the deep red color pushing outwards to shove open the door to her classroom as the bell rang.

"Right on time, Miss Rose. Please, take a seat."

_How does he know my name?_

"Thank you, Professor..?"

"Just Professor is fine."

Ruby frowned as she made her way up to an empty area of the seating arrangements; 6 other people sat across the entryway in the other set of desks, some talking, one sitting silent, one asleep. She recognized Pyrrha and Ren amongst the group, but the other four were a mystery. Realizing he was talking, Ruby focused on her teacher's voice while closing her eyes.

"...and as you know, today is Monday. This means that there will be a duel, and today's participants will be..." The professor took a glance at his scroll and continued talking.

"Ruby Rose and Rayne Li-Zhao." Ruby perked up from her slouched seated position and unclipped Crescent Rose, resting the folded weapon in her hand.

"The rules are simple; if I feel lives are being endangered, I'll intervene in the duel. If your weapon can convert into a firearm of any sort, please refrain from doing so. Aura meters will determine the winner when I stop the duel. Any questions?"

Ruby shook her head and jumped down to the floor beneath, opening her trusted ally out into its scythe form and took her ready stance.

A few aah's came from the unknown students in the desks; Ren and Pyrrha had seen Ruby's battle prowess already, and were well accustomed to the tiny girl using such a large weapon.

"Compensating for something, dear?" Rayne took her time walking down the stairs, slowly dragging her weapon from its sheath, revealing an estoc the length of Ruby's entire body; letting it rest by her side. Rayne stopped at a reasonable distance from her opponent and flipped the sword palm-up, resting her left palm on the bottom of the hilt. Rayne's face remained impassive and this gave Ruby a second to admire the girl's- no, woman's figure in front of her. Rayne had certainly developed more than Ruby had, and it showed even more so through the choice of clothing her adversary was wearing; a green shirt modeled after a kimono that had no sleeves, revealing a pink strapless bra underneath. Skinny jeans outlined a lower body that completed the "ideal" figure and Ruby found herself ogling appreciatively from behind her hard battle-stare.

"Come on, little girl." Ruby bristled at the comment, but didn't move; Rayne's face turned into a smirk before jumping towards Ruby, her sword arm swinging out to the right, palm down, attempting a side-angled jab. Ruby frowned at the amateur gesture; it left her off-hand side completely defenseless.

_Is she trying to force me that way?_

Ruby tipped the jab upwards with the end of her scythe, knocking it away, before stepping into Rayne's guard, holding her scythe at the woman's throat.

Rayne took a step back and clapped sarcastically before Ruby heard a whizzing sound behind her; the crimson-cloaked girl spun around swinging her scythe diagonally on instinct. The scythe collided with the flying estoc, forcing it downwards and causing it to stab her left thigh instead of piercing her heart. Wincing as the weapon withdrew itself, Ruby prepared herself for it to strike again.

As the weapon righted itself to stab again, it disappeared, leaving Ruby slightly confused before realization dawned in her eyes; the girl spun around again, this time deflecting the sword into her right thigh. An audible cry of pain left her lips this time around, complimented by a pleased smirk upon Rayne's face. As the sword withdrew with a sickening slurp, Ruby barely stood while Rayne called her estoc back to her hand, her smile growing ever larger.

"The mighty leader of team RWBY almost at her knees while I've barely broken a sweat. What a shame, I thought you'd be more of a challenge than this." Rayne spat before sending her weapon on a collision course again. Ruby again deflected it; causing it to disappear. The weakened student closed her eyes and listened for the telltale whizzing sound at her eye level or lower before realizing almost too late that it was now above her and plummeting on course with her dominant arm.

Using a bit of her aura to augment her swing speed, Ruby twirled the scythe in a clockwise direction at an angle to create a cone-like defense pattern above her head, knocking the sword backwards towards Rayne again. The sword flew like a magnet to Rayne's hand, and a chuckle escaped the estoc-wielder's throat before her voice grew serious.

"Seems I've underestimated you, Ruby. Time to end this."

Rayne held her sword out in front, gatekeeper-esque, before closing her eyes and mumbling a few words under her breath. Ruby braced herself as the sword glowed a bright orange and grew another foot. The orange tint seemed to spread from Rayne's arms, which were adorned with black leather gloves that stretched to her elbows.

Ruby jumped back and winced at the excruciating pain in her legs as Rayne's eyes snapped open and jumped diagonally forwards, giving her an increased battlefield advantage over Ruby before sending her sword forward with a shove similar to her initial battle stance. The sword flew impossibly fast and there was no way Ruby was going to swing at the right moment to deflect it, so the injured girl swapped Crescent Rose to its sniper form before aiming at Rayne and shooting, leaving a surprised look on the other teenager's face.

Ruby sighed in relief as the sword disappeared from its downwards course and reappeared in front of Rayne, blocking the bullet and exploding the aura surrounding the sword, sending smoke in all directions and prompting the professor to raise his hand. Ruby's sigh turned to a gasp as she noticed the aura levels displayed on the board behind them; her own in the red while Rayne's remained orange. With a flick of the wrist, Crescent Rose folded to compact size while Ruby fell to the ground in a heap, her head hanging beneath her.

_I've never lost a duel! Not once! Who is this **Rayne** anyways, and why didn't I see her last year?_

"This duel is over. Miss Li-Zhao, please take your seat. Miss Rose, are you in need of any assistance?" Before Ruby had the chance to respond, she heard footsteps and someone kneeling next to her. She barely registered the words 'you are' and 'Ruby ok' before looking up to see Weiss next to her on one knee. Hurt from the moments in their dorm room combined with the stab wound in her pride clouded her brain and eyes with emotion before realizing that everyone was looking at her.

Resolving to prove her strength, Ruby used what was left of her aura to stand in a flash of petals, grabbing her weapon and clipping it on her side before turning to the professor with a smile.

"Yep! I'm fine, Professor." She then put all of her effort into not limping to her seat before collapsing in it, head falling into her arms. She heard the teacher drone on about something, occasionally interjected with a higher-pitched voice, before letting her thoughts surround her.

_I want to forgive Weiss... I do. But I'm sick of her treating me like I can't do anything right. Maybe I can't; I just lost a duel to someone I've never seen around here without landing a single hit; I didn't even have the _chance_. The next time we face, I'm going to _destroy_ her._

Her aura was steadily recovering at this point; the anger that coursed through her veins flowed into the wounds on her thighs and the only thing that remained of her previous injury were two bloody holes in her combat skirt.

_And now I have to get my fucking clothes fixed or get a new set. Some good rules the professor's set forth... ugh. And the **"Professor"**, don't get me started on him; he won't even tell us his fucking name!_

Ruby's anger reached a snapping point when she felt a hand on her shoulder, trying to gently disturb her from her rest. Looking up after rubbing her eyes, she saw Weiss, *again*.

_This woman never leaves me alone. AAAARGH!_ Ruby's aura was close to full strength by now and she decided to leave Weiss with silence and a cloud of petals. She honestly didn't care what her partner felt at this point, she was done being nice with Weiss if she wasn't going to reciprocate any feelings... even though a sliver of her insides wanted there to be _something_ more than just a partnership between them.

After appearing outside of the classroom, Ruby decided to make her way to her third period class, location confirmed by a quick check on her scroll. After reaching the door and seeing a note that effectively cancelled class for the next few days (_good, I couldn't stand another second with Weiss at the moment_), Ruby decided to head to the training room to blow off some steam.

* * *

As Ruby approached the door, sounds of someone already 'smashing shit up', as Yang would say, were wafting out. Aggravated even further now, Ruby spun on her heel to leave before freezing.

Y_ou know, people generally respect me around here. I don't want to have to be evil, but I think I'm gonna exert some superiority if there's a freshman in there or something._

Ruby turned around again with a slightly sinister smile on her face; _the current occupant _will_ leave when I enter._

Shoving the door open, Ruby found herself face to face with a shocked member of her previous AWT class.

"Oh, uh, hey there Ruby." The girl saluted, index to forehead, before walking over to a rack in the corner where her sweatshirt hung and yanking a towel off the rack, wiping her sweat-laden face and neck before turning back to the girl who had just walked in, still paused in the doorframe.

"Come in, come in. And change, go ahead; I guess you're lucky you came to the old gym, 'cuz now they split up genders; some stupid incident a few weeks ago made 'em do that." The girl sounded so formal and yet used such casual language; Ruby was astounded with the contradictions flowing out of her mouth.

"Oh, how rude of me! I never gave you my name; I'm Ella; Rayne's the leader of my team." Ruby stiffened at the mention of Rayne's name, and it didn't go unnoticed.

"Her fighting style _is_ unorthodox and relies a lot on flashy maneuvers; honestly, I thought you'd won the duel in the first five seconds. She acted foolishly to let her weapon go like that; she just wanted to show off to Professor."

Ruby rose an eyebrow but loosened up and walked towards the corner of the gym that had a rotating wall of lockers to contain all of the student's clothing; each locker could wash and dry whatever clothes were inside with a touch of a button in less than thirty minutes. Within a minute or two, the normally cloak-donning student now wore a pair of black nike shorts and a red tank top; similar to the other girl in the room, who had on a purple top instead. As Ruby reached to place Crescent Rose inside the locker, Ella spoke up from behind her.

"Wanna spar?" _Again with the formal informalities. It's freakin' me out!_

"Sure. Weapons?" A smile spread across Ella's face as she pulled a slim rod about a foot long out from behind her. The top opened off with a shake of the wrist and out slid fifteen feet of metal.

"Bring it."

* * *

E/N: Note, Rayne doesn't actually _call_ the sword out loud; she can just control it.

Think Irelia from League of Legends, if you know the reference. Estocs also don't have sharp edges; they only stab; hence why Rayne kept going for a stab move and not a slash with her extraordinarily long weapon. I thought Ruby speaking a comeback to the compensation insult would've been too OOC, but we'll see how the peeps develop over the next few chapters.

Ruby's 'dark' side is something I imagine everyone has deep inside (I certainly do), and the stress she's been under appears to be breaking that barrier she's had set up for all of her life. We'll see where that goes... :D

Also, concerning Rayne's fashion; it's a relatively popular look amongst teenage girls in the US, but I don't know how to describe it besides having a no-sleeve shirt with large openings where the sleeves ought to be, revealing the sides of the chest- I've seen this worn with regular sports bras or some sort of wrap-like bra that doesn't go to the shoulder... I'm a dude so I'm rather out of touch w/ women's fashion- if someone could let me know if I'm accurate or not, that would be nice.

I also love the petals/Ruby's semblance so it'll show up more. Rayne's semblance should be rather obvious but that'll get some more explanation later.

Sorry for the long note :D

-Skij


End file.
